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10 awesome book advertisements

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Vampires, boy wizards, S&M for housewives. It’s refreshing to see that not everyone has jumped on the literary bandwagon to promote their latest body of writing. BuzzFeed thought so, too, scrapping together a collection of 10 brilliant book ads from around the world, as well as the respective agencies responsible for each.

Of course, before there’s a book to market, an author has to actually start to write. Hoping to salvage what little remains of their mental stability—and when alcohol apparently doesn’t do the trick—a number of scribes turn to music. But what doth they listen to? PLOS Blogs’ NeuroTribes shares the musical selections of 10 top authors to summon their muse.

It won’t matter what your write, however, if you insist on using a stale or otherwise tiresome font. The same rule applies to marketing, but don’t worry. The 12 Most blog has identified the 12 most overused fonts that can damage your brand image. Always remember, there is nothing comical about comic sans.

Whereas the world would be a better place without any and all of those 12 fonts, there exist some marketing marvels that we’re left to linger. From Buckeyballs and Slip ’N Slides to various water rockets and deep fryers, Popular Mechanics lists 10 of the most beloved products ever banned and recalled.

I also empathize for this 11-year-old who sang a heart-wrenching “Ode to Hostess”—set to the tune of Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain”—upon hearing news of the company’s then still impending bankruptcy.

Far from bankrupt, that hasn’t deterred McDonald’s from acting promptly in the wake of its first reported sales decline in nine years. The fast food chain announced that its global chief restaurant officer, Jeff Stratton, will replace Jan Fields—who started as a crew member with the company over 35 years ago— as president of McDonald’s USA effective Dec. 1.

Meanwhile, Ben & Jerry’s is replacing much of its local advertising with crowdsourced images from Instagram. The idea is part of a new promotion from the brand challenging fans to take photos that capture “euphoria.” Selected images will be used in Ben & Jerry ads in the the respective winners’ neighborhoods.

If I were going to be on television, though, I’d want to come away from it having won some money or prizes. Unfortunately, for this couple on “Wheel of Fortune,” that won’t include a trip to Honolulu. Probably for the best—something tells me they’d have a hard time booking the flight.